Southeastern Bankers Expect More Interstate Agreements

October 10, 1985|By John G. Edwards, Business Writer

LAKE BUENA VISTA — Before a seminar of bankers concluded Wednesday, one of their predictions came true.

A consensus of the 54 participants, who included senior bank officers and regulators from 11 southeastern states, predicted that interstate banking would continue to evolve slowly, said William L. Sutton, president of the Florida Bankers Association.

More and more of the 23 states that have not enacted interstate-banking legislation will do so and interstate banking eventually will be nationwide, Sutton said.

While the bankers were participating in a FBA-sponsored symposium at the Hilton at Walt Disney World Village, the Washington, D.C. City Council was overturning the mayor`s veto and deciding to adopt a reciprocal regional banking law. It will allow six other states in the Southeast that have similar laws to merge with D.C. banks. Two banking companies in Virginia have announced they intend to acquire D.C. banks.

It isn`t the first time the southeast bankers` symposium has forecast correctly. In 1983, they predicted regional banking pacts would be established in the Southeast, Sutton said.

The following year, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina enacted regional banking laws.

After the Florida law became effective this summer, Citizens & Southern Georgia Corp. of Atlanta acquired Landmark Banking Corp. of Fort Lauderdale, Sun Banks Inc. of Orlando merged with Trust Company of Georgia and Atlantic Bancorporation of Jacksonville agreed to combine with First Union Bank of Charlotte, N.C.

Barnett Banks of Florida Inc., headquartered in Jacksonville and the largest bank holding company in the state, has not merged with a non-Florida institution. Nevertheless, Barnett has discussed potential mergers, said Charles E. Rice, the firm`s chairman and chief executive.

The regional mergers of other Florida institutions may bring more expertise and capabilities to old competitors, he said.

Another consequence has been Florida`s loss of bank company headquarters to other states.

Some expect that will shift the focus of the financial community to Georgia and North Carolina, where the bank company headquarters are now, said Rod Jones, director of the Florida division of banking. Jones disagrees.

``It`s obvious they are going to be very active in serving that Florida market,`` he said, because that`s why the out-of-state bankers bought Florida firms.

``It`s going to happen, not by federal legislation, but by marketplace pressure,`` said Donald T. Senterfitt, president-elect of the American Bankers Association.

Already, 20 out-of-state banks are legally soliciting credit card customers in Florida. And the nation`s largest bank holding company, Citicorp of New York City, has bailed out formerly insolvent Biscayne Federal Savings and Loan Association of Miami and renamed it Citicorp Savings.